Infected with frustration

January 12, 2006

SOUTH BEND ike Brey admitted psychological help might be in order. Not for the Notre Dame men's basketball team now three cruel losses into the Big East season and searching for answers. For himself. "I probably should have my head checked," Brey said, "but I love our group." He paused for a beat after wrapping that verbal hug around the Irish and stated the simple fact that makes this a tough team to love. "But we're 0-3 in the league." After Syracuse kept Notre Dame at arm's length in the second half Wednesday to win 88-82, a familiar empty feeling followed the team into the locker room. A team with five players who scored in double figures, a rebounding edge over the springy Orange athletes, twice as many assists as turnovers, and nothing to show for it. A team that stitched together stretches of tantalizing basketball for four minutes here and five minutes there, but not the uninterrupted 40 minutes necessary to win. Moving well for a while, the Irish hit the brakes like a car in rush hour traffic just when it seemed like they could make up for lost time. M Jason Kelly Commentary Figuring out how to end that pattern will be a bigger task over the next two days than preparing to play Providence. "If we don't, we're going to keep being in here saying it was a close game, but, but, but, but," senior point guard Chris Quinn said, "so we've got to figure it out." Only a week into the Big East season and frustration has infected Notre Dame like a nagging cold. They can't shake it. One recommended remedy -- and at this point, they'll try anything -- involved an injection of adrenaline from the kind of plays that don't have a statistical category. "There's got to be a reason we're not pulling these games out," junior guard Colin Falls said. "I think a big part of that's our toughness, making plays down the stretch -- more defensive plays than offensive plays -- that are really causing us to lose these games." An all-or-nothing team right now, Notre Dame's offense fed its defense, and vice versa. When the Irish faltered on one end, it became contagious. "I really think when we have a good offensive possession, we're more active on the other end of the floor and we make things happen," Falls said. "We get rebounds and we get out and run. When we run, that's when we're at our best." At their best, the Irish moved the ball with purpose and determination, creating shots, not manufacturing them, the difference between art and hard labor. Between the first two television timeouts Monday, Notre Dame played the artistic way. Russell Carter scored inside and out. Luke Zeller hit a 3-pointer, swatted a Gerry McNamara shot, delivered a pass to Quinn cutting toward the basket, and the Joyce Center bellowed the freshman's name. Torin Francis took passes from Quinn and Falls hard to the hoop. Kyle McAlarney contributed a 3-pointer of his own to give the Irish a six-point lead. Then as fast as the momentum mounted, it evaporated. Back on the perilous Big East teeter-totter, Notre Dame's uncertainty surfaced and Syracuse's experience, athleticism and general chest-thumping attitude took over. "I don't know how confident we were tonight because we couldn't get two stops in a row," Brey said. "They were rolling so well offensively." Even Brey, as much a psychiatrist to the team as a coach over the past week nursing their mental wounds, didn't try to artificially inflate their confidence after that. Only winning will make that essential emotion real, and nothing -- not a home game, not hot shooters, not an opponent below them in the standings -- can guarantee victory. Not without those missing elements nobody in the Notre Dame locker room could quite identify, but everybody recognized they couldn't win without. "Eventually you've got to earn one," Brey said. "It won't be your turn." If the Irish didn't understand that before, they better now, after three hard lessons in Big East cruelty.